Auburn Overcomes Alabama in Annual Food Drive, Which Again Raised 1 Million Pounds

Students at Auburn overcame their counterparts in Tuscaloosa in their annual, friendly food drive competition that once again raised more than a million pounds of food for those in Alabama who need it most.

The 30th annual Beat Auburn Beat Hunger food drive kicked off in late September and wrapped up Thursday.

The schools unveiled how much food they raised in ceremonies Friday morning.

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UA students raised 326,644 pounds of food this year, which is enough to provide more than 272,000 meals via the West Alabama Food Bank.

On the other side of the state, Auburn University’s Beat Bama food drive shattered its previous records and raised 686,807 pounds of food.

More than 710,000 Alabamians struggle with food insecurity, according to the nonprofit Feeding America, and many of them will be served by the food banks that benefit from this drive each year.

“It’s amazing what these two universities have done for the food insecure population of Alabama,” said Jean Rykaczewski, chief executive officer of the West Alabama Food Bank. “The last two years have been record-setting years for what we can do.”